The Prodigal Mage is the first part of a two-part sequel to the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology. At the end of that story it seemed that evil had been defeated, good had triumphed, and peaceful prosperity was returned to the kingdom of Lur. But nothing is ever that simple. Evil might sleep, but it never truly dies.

Page 69 of the Orbit Hardcover edition of The Prodigal Mage is a quiet moment in the story. A pause between breaths, between revelations. It's a recognition of what's just happened, a melancholy acceptance of what's just to come ... and a fearful resentment of what might come, will probably come, despite every previous attempt to prevent it. It's part of a scene between two old and trusted friends, Asher of Restharven and Pellen Orrick, who survived calamity once and hoped never to face it again.

"You want to see Darran, then?" he said, as the lads bustled out of the feed room with their buckets of porridged oats and chaff. "Afore ..."

Pellen nodded. "Can I?"

"Kerril said there weren't no harm," he replied, and headed out of the yard.

"Then I will take a moment," said Pellen, following. "But first, tell me what you're going to do about -- this other business."

"Well, Dath's for meeting with a few of them Circle Olken. Reckon she's prob'ly right. Aside from her they be the best mages we got."

Trust him to mention it. "I ain't any kind of mage, Pellen. Not any more."

The Fisherman's Children duology is about family and fate. It's about doing what must be done even though you don't want to do it. And it's about lots of chickens coming home to roost. At its heart, The Prodigal Mage is about a father and his son who might love each other but don't fully understand each other. And about what goes wrong when love isn't enough.